Tower Prep Aftermath
by Author JMH
Summary: After Ian, Gabe, CJ and Suki escape from Tower Prep, they find many mysteries outside of Tower including underground monitors that watch their every move and a mystery man obsessed with the number 3.  Can the 4 brave a final challenge left by Headmaster?
1. Chapter 1: Decisions

Chapter 1: Decisions

"Me?" the lady with Whisper's voice asked. "I'm not human."

She began to click, and flicker, a mere hologram, leaving the top of the hill as if she never was, and as if she never will be, leaving the four teens confused and pondering on what to do next.

"How much of that do you think was true?" Suki asked, about a minute later, long enough for the group to think about their circumstance.

"I don't know," Ian said. "None? Half?"

"Which half?" CJ asked.

"You know, it seems like we have to have this conversation pretty frequently," Gabe added.

"Okay," Ian said, "then none! All I know for sure is that nothing Headmaster could say will EVER make me go back to that place."

"Ditto," Gabe added.

"Well guys," CJ said, "what if we can stop this upcoming war by going back?"

"Well that would peachy, but it's not worth it!" Ian said. "If you guys think it will help, then go ahead back, find the key and get sent to West Campus for believing some lie. Meanwhile, Gabe and I will go farther up the peninsula and see if we can find anything distinctive."

"Okay, but we're gonna prove you guys wrong," CJ said.

"Uh, no offense CJ," Suki said, "but I don't think you're in any position to be calling the shots."

CJ and Suki walked down the path, and Gabe and Ian trailed up the hillside.

"What was Suki talking about, what did CJ do?" Gabe asked.

"Well, it turns out she was the spy that we suspected, and..."

"Shut the Front Door!" Gabe said.

"Wait there's more," Ian said. "She's also Headmaster's daughter."

"What!"

"I know right, she's known all along, and she's been selling us out on everything."

The two had then finished climbing the short hillside. Gabe was about to take a step off, when Ian put his hand out, stopping him.

The two saw a large slope leading down to a clearing, in which was a building. The building was an EXACT cube, and made of entirely brick, reenforced at the ground level, and looked big enough to have at least two floors and maybe even a basement. (Which, they would soon find out, it did.)

Ian and Gabe carefully trailed down the long slope, and Ian arrived at the ground level.

"Ah!" Gabe exclaimed. He had tripped over a large rock in about the middle of the slope, and fell down the rest of the slope.

"Gabe!" Ian said. By the time Ian had gotten to stop Gabe from tumbling down the slope, he was just about to the bottom.

Gabe got to his feet and brushed some more dirt off his blue oxford shirt.

"Oh my G," he said, looking at the building. "What is this?"

"Let's find out," Ian said.

The building wasn't only in a clearing, but it was in the dead center of the clearing, a place that felt darker, and in which the dirt was colder.

Ian and Gabe walked over to the front of the building, and saw red letters that looked somewhat smeared, drawn across the front of the door.

EMERGENCY EVACUATION

CENTER

"Emergency Evacuation Center?" Gabe asked. "What's the point of this?"

"And I thought the mysteries stopped when we reached the end of that pipe," Ian said. "But even I knew that it would be wrong."

Ian paused for a moment, then continued talking

"Well, I guess if Tower Prep had taught me one thing, Literature taught me us that the only way out is through."

"Wait, you're actually suggesting we go into this place?" Gabe asked.

"Yes, I am."


	2. Chapter 2: The Bunker

CJ and Suki walked down the narrow path, arguing with each other until they arrived back at end of the drainage pipe.

"This was NOT my fault!" CJ said. "Even though I WAS selling you guys out, we still managed to escape."

"CJ," Suki said, pronouncing it as if one word, "now Ian doesn't trust you, Headmaster doesn't trust you, and even I'M having some problems with you."

"Urrg!" CJ said. She walked up through some shrubs and bushes, to where the key may have gone.

"Ah!" she said. CJ had slid, and flipped on her back.

"Ceej!" Suki exclaimed. Suki ran up the hill, avoiding other obstacles on the way up. CJ pushed hands, getting herself to her feet.

Suki came to CJ's side, and they both saw that CJ had tripped by sliding on a wet, metallic door that seemed to have been carved into the ground.

"What is this?" CJ asked.

"I'm not sure," Suki said, "but any idiot knew that Tower's secrets didn't end after we escaped."

"Well," CJ said, "I guess if Tower taught me one thing, it's that the only way out is through."

"You think we should go into this thing?" Suki asked.

"Why not?" CJ asked. She grabbed the handle to the metal door, pulled it to the left, and opened it up.

Suki jumped down, hitting ground level, and CJ followed.

"This place looks like the tunnels," CJ said. "Maybe they lead back into the school."

"Let's follow this towards the direction of the hillside," Suki said.

The two walked down the hallway, and came to a fork in tunnel, one hallway going left, and one going right.

Behind them now, was the image of a man, that couldn't be heard at that moment, but would in time. He had very long, grey-ish silver hair, and had aviator goggles loose around his neck, and above a crooked, reddish bow tie and dirty suit.

"Three's a charm," he said, from behind the girls. They both gasped, and lunged backwards a little bit.

"Uh, I think we're lost," CJ said.

He nodded his head.

"No," he said. "No you are not. Three's a charm." He held out his thumb, index finger, and middle finger, signaling the number three.

The two paused.

"What do you mean 'three's a charm'?" Suki asked

"You both have tried to escape three times. On the day each of you arrived at Tower, and the day you found Ian Archer in the woods."

"You know Ian?" Suki asked.

"The third time you tried, you DID escape. Only three others know about Headmaster's plans besides you four. Headmaster, Cornelius Tower and..."

"You!" CJ exclaimed. "You're the seventh person!"

He shook his head from left to right, the traditional symbol meaning no.

"Three Outside groups."

CJ and Suki exchanged looks.

"Uh, no," Suki said. "Two groups. The Broken and Connor's group."

He smiled.

"No," he said.

"Who ARE you then?" CJ asked.

He grinned, then replied.

"We will see each other three times. Today is one, and twice in the next five days."

"Look," CJ said. "We didn't even want to see you this time, so..."

He looked at them, and scared them a little bit.

"So," she said, "well you've gotta get your spooky self out of here!"

He laughed to himself for a moment, and then pointed to the right passageway. He himself then

disappeared down the left passageway.

CJ and Suki exchanged looks, and then heard footsteps coming from the right tunnel.

CJ then looked ahead at what was directly ahead of them, and saw a black, painted door. She pushed on the door, and then used both of her arms and pushed the door open.

"Go in!" CJ said.

"What?" Suki asked.

"There's that three's a charm creep and footsteps coming in from the right, so I think right now our best bet is ahead, now get IN!"

Suki opened up the door just big enough for her small figure to fit in, then CJ opened it up a crack more to get herself in.

The two shut the door behind them even farther in than CJ had found it. Now it would be even more difficult for anyone to get into... Well, it took the girls a minute to figure OUT where they were.

There were nine monitors, arranged in three rows and three columns. Each monitor had a different picture on it, that seemed almost mounted to it. Each picture seemed to monitor a different location.

"What is this?" CJ asked.

"It looks like an old army bomb shelter. They used to use these monitors to watch their enemy. We must be in some kind of bunker."

One monitor showed a picture of Headmaster, two others were perched in what looked like bedrooms. Distinctively Suki/CJ's room and the other, Gabe/Ian's room.

Another was looking over the cafeteria, and another outside, in the woods, near the perimeter wall.

One looked down onto the old observatory that the group thought that only they knew about. The Seventh showed a picture of a room that Ian and Gabe were very familiar with, however CJ and Suki didn't know: the lair of the Rooks.

The only other monitor that showed a picture was somewhere dark, but had a familiar shade of yellow in it: the yellow elevator in the tunnels.

The last monitor was hard to see into, but was obviously not a picture, but something even stranger: a mirror. What was a mirror doing in the final monitor?

Suki and CJ looked at their images in the Mirror. Suki turned to CJ.

"Why would pictures of our rooms be on underground monitors, outside of the school?"

"Suki, do you know what this means?" CJ asked. "It means that not only are people IN Tower watching us, but so is whoever runs these monitors!"

"Probably that tunnel creep!" Suki said.

BANG!

Both CJ and Suki turned to the metal door, and heard a metallic clang against it.

BANG!

"One more blow and it might open!" Suki said.

BAAAAANG!

The Black Door Swung Open.


	3. Chapter 3: The Center

Ian and Gabe pushed in the door to the Mysterious Emergency Evacuation Center, and looked inside. There were carpeted floors, and some occasional pillars from the floor to the ceiling.

Ian had found a set of stairs, and went up them. At the top, he found a massive kitchen set that consisted of various cabinets, a refrigerator, a microwave and an oven.

"Hey Ian," Gabe said, from somewhere on that floor. "You might want to check this out!"

Ian followed a hallway from the kitchen setup to what looked some bedrooms. By the looks of it, there were enough to hold about one quarter of the kids at Tower, but that was just a rough guess. Gabe was at the end of the hallway, and was looking at one of the rooms.

"Gabe, what is it?" Ian asked.

Gabe pointed to the door, where written in all capital letters were two names: GABRIEL FORREST/IAN ARCHER.

"Why would our names be engraved on this door?" Ian asked.

"Maybe it's a trap?" Gabe suggested. "Or maybe just another Headmaster trick to get us back into the school?"

"Nah, this place must've been built at least in the 80s, and I don't think he's been running this place THAT long. Well, the only way out is through."

Ian took the knob, and turned it sideways, revealing a room nearly identical to theirs at Tower Prep, except there were only two beds, and no desks, only bedside tables.

Gabe happened to notice an unusual splash of color on his bedside table, that he looked at more thoroughly.

"Oh My G!" he said. "Señor Guapo!" On the bedside table, was the beloved sock monkey Gabe had become so attached to over the years.

"W-w-w-w-wait!" Ian said. "Gabe, HOW would Señor Guapo get here, if you left him at West Campus?"

"I don't know," he replied.

Ian left the room, leaving Gabe and Guapo in the room, as he went down another flight of stairs, leaving him back on the ground level floor. Below him, Ian saw another flight of stairs going down.

"GABE!" Ian called. "Get down here!"

"I'm coming!"

Ian trailed down the steps, and Gabe followed behind, when the two reached the bottom of the stairs, they noticed that the floor became cement, and the sun no longer shown in the basement. Down one hallway, the one to the right, there were more rooms, and to the left, looked like the tunnels underneath West Campus.

Ian turned to the left, and Gabe followed him into the hallway that was dimly lit by orange-ish, long lights on the top of the walls, and looked so much like the tunnels between Tower Prep and West Campus.

Ian and Gabe went down the hallway, and heard familiar voices, and some footsteps.

"Go in!" said one voice.

"What?" said another.

"…Get IN!"

"CJ?" Ian called.

"Suki?" Gabe yelled.

Apparently, the girls didn't hear Ian or Gabe. Ian and Gabe ran down to where CJ and Suki were standing, and saw them closing a huge black door.

Gabe slammed on the door.

BANG!

Ian banged on the door even harder, trying to get in.

BANG!

The two both smacked the door open, and the door thudded open with a big bang.

BANG!

Suki and CJ shrieked as Ian and Gabe walked into the room.

"What are you guys doing here?" CJ asked.

"We found this passageway in from a building out in the forest," Ian said. "How did you guys get here?"

"We found a bulkhead out in the woods near Connor's key," Suki said.

"What is this place?" Gabe asked, as Ian pushed the door shut.

"I think it might be like a spy surveillance station," CJ said.

"Well, how does it work?" Gabe asked. "Well, DOES it work?"

"I think," Suki said, fidgeting with some buttons underneath the wall with the monitors, "like… This!"

In a flash, the first monitor flickered to life.


	4. Chapter 4: Listening In

As the monitor screen became more seeable, a clearly visible form of Headmaster's office appeared, and the group could see his desk, and a few cabinets around it.

"Hey guys," Suki said, "there's a few more buttons under Headmaster's office."

Suki clicked one of them, and another video feed appeared, this time from where the air vent that lead to the tunnels was.

"Looks like Headmaster isn't in his office," Gabe said. "Nurse's office maybe?"

"Ian did smack the you-know-what out of him pretty good," CJ said.

"But Nurse doesn't have her own monitor in here," Ian said. "I want to check out what's going on by the yellow elevator."

Suki clicked button number 8, and a feed of the yellow elevator popped up.

All it showed was the elevator. Suki clicked another button under that one, and a feed of what seemed to be the office at the top of the elevator came up. On the feed, Headmaster was holding an ice pack to his head, and was walking out of the camera's sight, but his voice could be clearly heard on the camera.

"Cornelius!" he shouted. "Let me in!"

"Cornelius Tower?" CJ asked.

"Do we know another one?" Ian asked, turning to her.

There was a click, and the four could tell that the door to Tower's office was opened.

"Suki, see if there's a button for Tower's office," CJ suggested.

"There's one left," Suki said. "Fingers crossed!"

She clicked the button, and instead of a video feed, a green, lined voice transmitter came across. It moved up farther the more one spoke, and moved less when someone spoke less.

"Just Audio?" Gabe asked. "Of course when we're JUST about to see Cornelius Tower, we only get audio!"

Suki let out a small giggle.

"We need to take action!" Headmaster said, his blaring voice engulfing the entire monitor room.

"Please sir," said a familiar old man's voice, "they ARE just children."

"That's Cornelius Tower!" Gabe said.

"Shh!" Suki said., putting her hand over his mouth.

"Ian Archer not only got out of this school, but he destroyed my office, and gave me a terrible headache!"

"Headmaster, what are you so worried about, if Archer IS the one, then he'll know to somehow get the others out."

"But Archer thinks that the wall is not real, and I can't tell him about the weak point at the very end now."

"Headmaster, he WILL come back. I promise you. He needs to get every other student out of Tower before he passes his final challenge, and to do both he needs to come back."

"You swear?" Headmaster asked.

"I swear. Do you think that the computer already gave them the message?"

"It's nearly nightfall, and they've been out in the woods all day. They've probably already realized their location, and Whisper 120 is always waiting there. We never counted on Conner

After that, a clicking of someone's shoes could be heard leaving the room.

Suki clicked the button that showed the lab on that same monitor. The four could see Headmaster leaving Tower's office, and exiting through the yellow elevator.

Suki clicked the original button showing the yellow elevator from the tunnels. There was a BING and Headmaster stormed out of the elevator, down the tunnel, and out of sight.


	5. Chapter 5: Return

Suki clicked a few other buttons, showing other places, most of which seemed abandon.

"What do you think he meant when he said I'll know to get the others out?" Ian asked.

"Maybe that's why that building is out there!" Gabe said. "Emergency Evacuation Center?"

"Maybe you're right," Ian said, "but, who will lead every student at Tower out, past the wall?"

"Well, who else do we trust inside Tower?" CJ asked.

"Connor?" Suki suggested.

"He's in too much trouble as it is, and we don't want him trying to escape from West Campus," Ian said.

"Fenton?" Gabe asked.

"Fenton Capwell!" Ian said. "He's a possibility, but we need someone that can really take charge. Even, I can't believe I'm saying this, Ray."

"Well, how about one of us sends all of them a text, or calls them, and tells them to find a weak point at the end of the wall, that they can go through," Suki said.

"Easy," CJ said. She pulled out a familiar phone and a tube from her pocket. "The Satellite Phone, and Chemica Desin 2.0"

"What!" Gabe said. "H-h-how'd you get those back?"

"Grabbed them while I was in my dad's office," CJ said. It pained Ian a little bit to hear CJ say her 'dad' when referring to Headmaster.

"So, who wants to make the calls?" Gabe asked.

There was a little bit of silence.

"Headmaster thinks that I'm going to come back to pass a final challenge, and if that can save the rest of the students here, then I'm going back, at any cost."

"Ian!" Gabe said. "Let's think about this, okay! Maybe there _better ideas, other options. _Maybe you should just_ slow down, and we can think about other choices?"_

"Your Hypersuasion is still not working on me Gabe," Ian said. "I'm going back, and that's final."


	6. Chapter 6: Final Preparations

"Wait!" CJ said. "So NOW you're all buying into this information?"

"Well why not?" Ian said. "Head-master even said he knew we were gone, but now we can prove him wrong. I'm going down that tunnel on the left, and I'm gonna see if it leads into the tunnels in Tower."

"Wait! You can't go in there!" Suki said.

"Well why not?" Ian asked, trying to push the door open.

"There was this weirdo who went down there," CJ said. "He kept saying 'three's a charm'."

"I saw him in the West Campus tunnels. Silver hair."

"Pilot goggles?" Suki asked.

"Bow tie and filthy suit?" CJ said.

"That's the one," Ian said. "Look, he said that he'll see me three times, and the faster those times are up, the better."

"Okay, " Gabe said, "but let me come with you."

"Gabe," Ian said.

"I know," Gabe said, "you're gonna tell me that I should stay here, because you have to go it alone."

"Gabe, you're gonna be playing one of the most important roles. I want you to stay here with my PDA and call me on the Satellite Phone if you see something on the monitors. Keep them all on."

"What about me and Ceej?" Suki asked. "You guys really want to help?"

"Yeah!" CJ said, and Suki nodded.

"CJ, I need to find Headmaster, so you go to the Whisper room and make an announcement for every student to go to the cafeteria, and find a way to make sure every student gets to the weak point at the end of the wall."

"And me?" Suki asked.

"Suki, you go to the Emergency Evacuation Center and make sure everything is set up for when CJ comes back."

"How are you gonna get back to Tower unnoticed though?" Gabe asked. He had pulled up a leather chair from a corner and sat in it.

"I'm hoping that the tunnel that the creep went down will lead us there."

"We better go," CJ said.

"Yeah," Ian said. "It's almost dark out, I haven't slept in two nights, and I prefer to do my butt-whopping before bedtime."

The other three let out a small laughs.

Ian forced the door back open, and let CJ and Suki out first.

"Let's go," he said. Ian shut the door and locked it, leaving Gabe safe from any uninvited guests, and showed Suki where to go.

He took CJ's hand, and they ran down the left hallway.


	7. Chapter 7: Tower Again

**Sorry I haven't updated this story in a while! In the next two days you'll see hopefully up to Chapter 11. I'm planning for 13 Chapter and an epilogue to release in weekly installments, every Thursday! Please Comment if You Like the Story!**

Ian and CJ ran down the hall, making various twists and turns on their way, eventually winding up at a ladder that lead up to Ian and Gabe's room. Ian climbed up it first, and then peered into the room first, making sure no monitors had come looking for them.

None had.

Ian swung the closet door open and went over to his bed, where he took the tunnel map given to them by Conner Owens only 2 nights before.

"This is the Whisper Room," Ian said, pointing to a tunnel leading to circular room, on the other end of the campus. "Be careful of the Gnomes, and we'll be out of here as soon as possible."

She climbed down the ladder again, and ran down the tunnel that lead to Whisper Room to make her announcement.

Ian left his room, and walked down the hall to the bathroom. He took a quick shower, and put on new clothes. He didn't realize how dirty he'd gotten in his desperate attempts to escape. He had on a pair of new, black jeans and a maroon top, with the Tower Prep insignia on it.

Ian walked off down the hall once again, past his room, and to the end of the hallway itself. He saw the room with the label 'HEADMASTER' above it.

Ian regained all his confidence and pushed in the door.


	8. Chapter 8: Office Secrets

Chapter 8

Ian slammed the door to Headmaster's office, and it swung open. It broke off one of the hinges, and the lights flickered on. Headmaster must be in his bedroom, or something, but Ian refused to give up.

He flicked on the lights and looked around the office, seeing some broken glass still on the floor, and some things thrown off of Headmaster's desk. Ian went over to the desk and opened the first drawer. He saw a laptop, the ones that the students used, and wondered if it was Headmaster's laptop?

Ian saw the bigger laptop that was usually seen in Headmaster's office on his desk, so this obviously wasn't it, but what could it be used for, if not for functioning the school. Ian though of the possibility it was broken, but if it was broken, then he would have sent it to the Whisper Room for redesign.

Ian took it out of the drawer, and sat down in the chair, kicking his feet up on the desk. The chair vaguely resembled the one in Cornelius Tower's office. Ian set the laptop upon his lap, and opened it up. He clicked the 'Power' button, and instead of taking its usual half a minute to boot up, it flickered to life immediately. An application Ian had never seen before started up. Upon the screen, a small, narrow window appeared, and the familiar face of a middle-aged man appeared.

Headmaster's laptop was a setup, Ian thought. The camera had a green light on next to it, signaling Ian could see Headmaster, and Headmaster could see Ian. They were in a video chat.


	9. Chapter 9: 3's a Charm – The Monitors

Chapter 9

Gabe sat in the leather chair in the bomb shelter, all alone, watching the dismal screens flicker, with no one in particular in any of them. He'd constantly flip through them, seeing no one and nothing.

After a while, he thought he heard the bomb shelter door creek open.

"Suki!" he called. "That you?"

No reply.

"Ian?"

No reply.

"Ceej?"

Ne reply.

Gabe turned around and shrieked at the sight. There was a man with long, curly, silver hair and a dirty suit, with a crooked bow tie on top.

"Oh my God!" Gabe cried. "Who the heck are you!"

"Three's a charm," he said. He motioned his thumb, index finger and middle finger.

"You're the weirdo my friends were talking about!"

"All three of your friends, Gabriel."

"How do you know my name? Are you the one watching us on the monitors? Are you the seventh person?"

He smiled a wicked smile, and back up, towards the heavy door.

"No, no I am not."

"Who are you?" Gabe asked, standing up.

The man raised his right hand, and motioned the same three fingers. Gabe noticed a ring on the index finger, which the man was taking off. The man threw it at Gabe, which Gabe happily caught, and put deep into his pocket.

"We'll see each other three times. Now is one, and twice in the next twelve hours. I think it's about time I check on Ian Archer, I still need to see him two more times."

"Why should I see you again? And what are you gonna do to Ian?"

The man began to chuckle, and leave the bomb shelter, slamming the heavy door behind him. Gabe opened it up, and saw nothing. The man had vanished.

"Whoa, how did you do that man?" Gabe called.

Gabe shuttered awake in the leather chair. Was it all a dream? Or had he just fallen asleep after the encounter with the man?

Gabe assumed for the moment he had been dreaming. He clicked the button for monitor one, and saw Ian sitting in Headmaster's chair.

"What are you doing in there Ian!" Gabe yelled. He could be as loud as he wanted; no one would ever hear him.

Gabe clicked the buttons underneath the Monitor 1 Button, trying to get different views of Ian, but the monitor wouldn't switch views. Gabe kicked the button in, but the screen had been through enough, and shattered. A large shard of glass cut Gabe's hand wide open, and blood oozed out. An electric burst shot out of the monitor, and was loud enough to boom down the hall, and echoed throughout the room.

The terrible noise gave Gabe wringing in his ears. Another burst of electricity shot out sparks, that hit Gabe down with a huge thud against the concrete. The remaining seven monitors (excluding the mirror and the first one that blew out) regained their life, showing the images once more.

What Gabe didn't notice was a ring with a huge, flat face on it, fall out of his pocket.

The same worn by a man in the tunnels less than fifteen minutes before, and would play a key part in Ian Archer's future.


	10. Chapter 10: Challenge

Chapter 10

Ian sat as frozen solid as possible, waiting for Headmaster to make the first move. Ian was hoping that if he stayed fake-frozen long enough, Headmaster would believe the signal was down and the automatic video chatting app had failed.

But before Headmaster could hang up, or Ian could blink, something interrupted the dead silence: a static-y voice came through the intercom system, and made an announcement.

"Would ALL Tower Prep students please report to the field outside of the dorm buildings and all faculty please report to the cafeteria, repeat all students outside the dorm building and all faculty to the cafeteria, thank you.". CJ's voice was easily understood and heard, no doubt, all across the campus. The sound of shoes trampling outside the office was heard, but Ian still didn't dare move a muscle.

"Mr. Archer," Headmaster said, his voice papery but strong, "don't pretend, I know you are there. Why have you returned?"

Ian took in a deep breath, figuring the act was over.

"I know what you're planning," Ian said, confidently.

"Do you now?" he replied. "And what exactly am I planning?"

"Some kind of final challenge that I needed to pass before I left, and I didn't, so you forced me, Gabe, CJ and Suki back here."

"And why did you have CJ clear out the students from the school?"

"You said there needed to be no students but us here. I also need to know where the wall's weak point is so they can leave."

"Very good, Mr. Archer, I guess you are ready for the final challenge. At the very end of the School Perimeter Wall on the East Dormitory side, if you follow the wall eight paces left, there will be a pit, in which, there is a key. Have CJ scan the key into the wall and a part of it will disappear. As for you, meet me at Old Black Box Theater in the Forbidden Zone at midnight. Make sure you are not followed."

"Wait," Ian said, "the what? Where?"

Headmaster thumb was shown in screen, and the application shut off a second later.

The call had ended and so had Ian's frustration.

CJ stayed in the Whisper Room for at least 20 minutes after the announcement. No faculty had come in to see why she had the announcement, which she hadn't expected, and there were no calls to the Whisper Room from students, which again, she hadn't counted on. CJ clicked a button on the Whisper supercomputer and an icon flashed up on it: STUDENT POPULATION: DORMITORY BUILDING. The number popped up, and continued decreasing by the minute.

432

421

415

CJ looked away from the computer for a moment, watching another screen on the wall, and saw that all laptops had booted down.

338

333

319

CJ pulled out her PDA, and opened up the Photos application, where she touched the screen on the first picture, enlarging the picture to its full size. CJ had scanned the picture into her computer and downloaded it onto her PDA. What had it been, twelve years? CJ had been three almost four when her mother disappeared, but she knew it was no accident, she knew her father was responsible for it.

Her relationship with him had never been the same since.

Around two years after her mother disappeared, her father became obsessed with Tower Prep. It was all he would talk about. When CJ turned nine, her dad was brought back to Tower Prep, to be the Headmaster. CJ stayed with her grandfather for a while. She didn't know where her father went at the time, and her grandfather was no help, barely stumbling around the house, eventually disappearing himself. Her grandfather had some pictures of a place that had the same emblem as Tower Prep, but looked older than the facility. He never talked, and when he did, anything he said made no sense whatsoever. After CJ's grandfather disappeared, her father decided that she should be with him at work. At this point, she was eleven years old, and enrolled at a school called Tower Prep, where he was the Headmaster. CJ never knew any of her past before, about, six weeks ago. She started telling Headmaster things that would be used against her friends, but would be used to her advantage. Headmaster only told her certain things, no specific details like where they lived, or even her mother's first name. CJ didn't even know her father's first OR last name. Her mother was — Ward, and that's where her last name came from.

CJ tried to re-focus on the task at hand, and turned her gaze back to monitor. Obviously, she had been zoned out for a long time, because the student count was ticking down to the very end.

14

12

11

7

5

3

2

1

0

No students in the dorm building: Mission Accomplished.

CJ left the Whisper Room, and began down the dark hallway. She heard a murmur, just a bare whisper, that sounded an awful lot like 'three'.

"Who's there?" CJ called. No reply.

"I'm not deaf!" she called even louder.

"Three's a charm!" she heard from behind her, reluctantly turning around.

It was him.

She saw the man just in time for him to begin walking down the hallway again.

Good, she thought, the sooner this guy gets his three times up, the better.

At that moment, her PDA in her pocket vibrated. CJ had forgotten that she had grabbed her PDA just before the fight between Ian and her dad broke out. She pulled it out of her pants pocket, and clicked it on. She had just received a text from Ian.

It read:

'Meet me, black bx theter, midnite. Go to east wall side. 8 steps left theres a key. Scan it into wall, n ur good.'

Gabe didn't know how long he was unconscious, because he didn't where a watch and there was no means of telling a hundred feet underground. When he finally woke up though, he saw the first monitor had shattered, and the others monitors had gone back to normal, with just pictures occupying the screen. Gabe used to leather chair to pull himself to his feet with a grunt and slipped on the floor because his sock was wet from all the sweat, and his shoe had fallen off at some point. When he went to pick it up, he saw a glittering jewel from next to the shoe: a ring.

"It was real?" Gabe asked himself. He picked up his shoe, and struggled shoving it on. When it was finally on, Gabe was right on the right side of the monitors. He saw a small, circular panel on it, that looked like it was carved of stone, and had a part cut out of it, just big enough for the ring to fit into. Gabe furrowed his brow, and took the ring from his hand, and set it into the slot.

The monitors wall opened with a sharp CLICK!

Gabe saw that the wall the monitors were on seemed to eject out of the wall, just a little bit, but large enough for Gabe to see into. There was one dim light, lighting up the entire passageway. He pulled the wall open a little bit more, and saw that wall was capable of moving. Another passageway. Gabe walked into it, and closed the door behind him, sealing himself in. There were some circuits and large wires sticking out of the monitors walls, which Gabe also tried to avoid.

He stuck careful to the wall, making sure there were no huge ledges he could fall off of ahead. The light seemed to disappear, for a while, as the hallway got smaller. Gabe didn't know how long he had walked for, but it was probably long enough to be back at Tower by this point. There was a turning point coming up in the wall, and a small crack in it shone light into the passage.

Gabe reached the turn, and put his eye to the crack. He saw a familiar ceiling with astronomical charts on it, and old fashioned furniture that was made in the mid-1900s era.

Cornelius Tower's Office, Gabe thought.

"What do want from me?" asked a familiar voice.

"Information," said a deeper one, from a much older man.

Gabe was able to recognize the first voice as his rival, Emily Wright. But how? She had been gone for days, with no trace after her or the Broken. The second one was no doubt Cornelius Tower.

"I have no idea what you mean," Emily replied.

There was pause. Gabe hadn't dared put his eye to the hole, but only his ear, listening into the entire conversation, which irked him. Gabe above the others wanted to see Cornelius in person.

"Now," Cornelius said, breaking the silence, "Ms. Wright, I'm sure you'll want to cooperate with me, or else I'm gonna to have to... Well, let's just say people try to avoid my bad side as much as possible."

"Is that a threat?" Emily asked.

Cornelius chuckled an evil chuckle, and stopped three seconds later.

"Let's just say it's a scenario," he replied. "I want to know now! Where have you been, what is he doing to the school?"

Gabe heard footsteps of some worker boots marching out of the office.

"Wright!" Tower yelled.

Gabe figured this was his chance to get a look at the office. He slid his glasses off and poked his right eye into the hole. Gabe. Old barely ever see without his glasses, and in this patio ulnar instance, he had seen it quite clearly. The crack of hole in the wall was at an angle Gabe could tell he was behind Tower's desk, so he could not see Tower, himself. He could however see a leather chair that was positioned to look at Tower. Emily had probably just gotten out of it. Whoever sat in the chair probably wouldn't notice if Gabe's eye moved, or his eye in the first place.

Another familiar figure walked into the room and sat in the leather chair facing the desk.

"Owens," Tower said.

"Mr. Tower," Conner said. "I have some news. The school has been cleared and Ian Archer is aware of his challenge."

"Is it in the usual place?" Tower asked.

"Black Box Theater, yes," Conner replied.

"What about Sato, Forrest and Ward?" Tower asked.

"CJ is leading the other students out, and I have no leads on Suki or Gabe. I'd imagine they are helping her."

"Thank you Mr. Owens," Tower said. "Dismissed."

Conner walked out of the chair, and stopped short, looking directly in Gabe's direction, giving Gabe only one sudden thought: he sees me.

Conner looked at the crack and Gabe's hovering eye, and eventually walked away. Gabe didn't know whether or not to imagine Conner had seen him or not, but eventually made nothing of it. Gabe decided that before he ratted him out to Tower to continue down the hallway.

Gabe knew Ian had to do this alone, but Gabe has to be there to support him. What if Headmaster and Tower were working together to get Ian out of the way? He had been a pretty big threat to the students at their school. What if CJ and Suki never find out either because the Protection Center was actually a time bomb waiting for all the students to get in to explode on itself?

Gabe could NOT handle any more of this. He was going to the Theater to help his best friend.


End file.
